Quito, Ecuador – Wednesday March 28th

Today I went with my host mom, Nancy, to the school of her grandson (Estafano) for a little class activity.  This week was Estefano’s time as “Niño de la semana” (Kid of the week) and Wednesday was the day a family member was supposed to come to the class and show the class how to make something.  Nancy asked me yesterday if I would go with her and help, and of course I agreed!

We only had around a half an hour to teach the class, and Nancy had chosen to help them make origami birds.  I have incredible admiration for anyone who teaches children under the age of ten.  I’ve always known that teaching was a hefty task as my mom is an English teacher in the Chicago Public School System.  But now I understand why my mom insists that Kindergarten and First Grade teachers should be the highest paid positions!!! Just getting the kids to sit down, let alone fold sheets of paper was a gigantic task.  Not going to lie, I had fun though! And I got a few adorable shots with my camera!

The kids mauling Nancy to help them with their origami birds!

The teacher of the class helping the kids to fold triangles

One of the cuties I got to help make his bird

Quito, Ecuador – Tuesday March 27th

Around a few days ago I was out looking to buy a new phone (don’t ask me what happened to the last one) without having to ask the coordinator of my program to help me.  Over the past six months (Between Laura and I) three phones have been lost somewhere in Ecuador, never to be found again.  So you can imagine my great disappointment when I was out with friends one night and patted myself down only to find that I had lost yet another telephone.  This is why I can not and should not have nice things, haha. Don’t even ask me how much money has been spent on new replacement phones, thus nudging me to find an alternative.

Anywho, my friend Juan Jose offered to take me to one of the malls in the south of Quito to help me look for a cheap phone to replace the other.  Now, this is no ordinary mall. Literally everything in this place has been stolen at some point or another.  Don’t judge me.  I know it was grungy of me, but I couldn’t help myself!  I was not about to have to pay another $60 for some phone from the 90′s! You would have done the same!  After we arrived at the shady “mall” we quickly browsed around to find a cheap phone similar to the one I had before.  Finally we found one for only $15!!! Saved myself around $45 dollars! Talk about a steal, haha!

On our way out of the mall we passed a man selling baby chicks on the street for just twenty cents! Having saved so much money on my new phone, I just couldn’t resist a baby chicken at such a cheap price! Once again don’t ask what I was thinking! Only after I was halfway on my way home in the metro did I realize that I now had a baby chicken on my hands and I had no idea what I should do with it.  Eventually I finally arrived home, and much to my surprise, the family seemed pleased to have a pet in the house! My host mom, Nancy, helped me make a little home for the chick (By this time I named him Carlos, though I’m not sure if “he” is actually a boy or girl).  Mind you, we all agreed that the chick couldn’t stay with us for more than a few days and that we would eventually send him to live with the family’s grandmother and her other baby chicks.Sunday morning the grandmother came to take Carlos away and I’ll admit he had grown on me within a few days! I was very sad to see him go, but I know that the family and I will eventually go over and visit him.  Click here to see an adorable video of the day I brought him home.

Quito, Ecuador – Sunday March 11th

Today was my host mom Nancy’s grandson’s (Estefano) fifth birthday party!  We headed out from the house at around ten in the morning to a KFC about a mile away.  On the second floor of a mega KFC (Larger than I’ve ever seen in the U.S), where they had set apart a section of the floor for the celebration.  His mom had invited a ton of family members along with many of Estefano’s classmates all running around excitedly.

Around twenty minutes later a clown made his way over to entertain the kids.  He was hilarious!! And I think it really made Estafno’s birthday!  There was also a special appearance by Clunky, the chicken mascot of KFC.  Overall great day, and we got to chow down on a few pieces of chicken afterwards!

Juan Jose (Host brother) and me!

The family! (From left to right: Juan Jose, me, Aracely, Gustavo, and Nancy's granddaughter Dady)

Juan Jose, Nancy, and Aracely

The birthday boy, Estafano, with the clown and a friend.

All the kids with the clown and clucky!

Quito, Ecuador – Friday March 9th

Today was a particularly interesting turn of events especially after the magnificent experience that was International Women´s day for me. A women who had been in the office all the way back in September with her friend for moral support.  (For anyone who has been reading since september this was the friend of a women who´s court case I went to.  She was trying to get her son back from her mother after about a year of searching for a job.  The mother, however, had no desire to give the child back and was filing for custody. For those of you who don´t know the end, the mother did eventually get back her son!) She is currently in a wheelchair and at the time I didn´t really think anything of it until today.

We greeted each other outside the door of the office today and she told me that she was here to continue with her case of recuperación (literally translating to recovery), trying to get her children back from her mother-in-law who refused.  When my boss was ready she came in and explained her situation.

Around two years ago she was married with two kids living on the south side of Quito.  One day her and her husband had been fighting and he stabbed her in the back with the intent to kill her, and left her in the house for dead.  Once someone finally found her she was taken to the hospital where she ended up staying for over a year.  Today she is restricted to using her wheelchair and is paralyzed from the waist down.  Telling us about the struggle of her first year staying in the hospital she explained that everyday all she wanted to do was kill herself and the only thing from day-to-day that kept her living was the though of her children.

While she was making her recovery in the hospital, the husband had run away with the children to his mother´s house, where to this day they still are.  You might be wondering how this man is out of jail after paralyzing his wife? Well, this leads me on a little bit of a digression.  I had recently been reading a pamphlet that was given to me by the American Embassy when I went to one of the “town meetings” they held for Americans living in Ecuador.  Anyway, I found an article discussing the criminal justice system in Ecuador.  Sad to know but less than 1% of all criminals are actually convicted and sent to prison in the entire country.  Unbelievable. Discussing this with my boss today he even was saying that the penal system in Ecuador is completely in shambles.

So anyway, this is how this criminal is still on the streets and this woman will never walk again.  I went from a wonderful day full of appreciation of women, to hearing this one women´s story to once again remind me that there are still people in the world who are hateful and only seeking to destroy.   Sorry to leave people with this story on a Friday! I just felt that it was an interesting and important parallel to my post yesterday.

On a brighter note, I wish everyone a happy weekend!

Quito, Ecuador – Thursday March 8th

Yesterday was International Woman´s Day, something that I had never heard of before in my life but apparently is celebrated all over the world.  And what a lovely day it was! I first learned of the holiday walking into work and being greeted by the gaurd who wished me a happy women´s day.  Not really understanding at first I thanked him and walked up the stairs thinking that it must be some random Ecuadorian holiday.

Turns out, (as explained by one of the lawyers I work with) International Women´s Day is acutally commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. It is a supposed to be a day to unite women of all contients usually divided by things like language, borders, religion, and race, ect. and have them reflect on the decades of struggle they have gone through for justice, peace, justice and development. Throughtout the day the common greeting was “Feliz día de la mujer”, and flowers and other small gifts were given to the women I worked with, and I even recieved chocolates from a co-worker! This hoilday was not only limited to women per se but to females in general.  The greetings and appreciation were also exchanged with little children. Sad that this day only comes but once a year, I have never felt so special just for being a female! I will definitly bring this tradition home with me!

On a side note, later on coming home from work I was surprised to find Lesly (The oldest sister of the family, and the one I went to Baños with) in the house with her dog, Coco.  When I had just arrived in September Lesly had just bought Coco with her new husband.  Once so small and fluffly I was surprised to see just how much he had grown!  Not to mention his new haircut made him look a little like a poodle, haha. Anywho, Araceli and I spent the whole afternoon taking snapshots of Coco, and I thought I would share some of the cutest!

Quito, Ecuador – Saturday March 3rd

For people that actually know me they know that I am by no means a nature person.  Doesn’t mean I support deforestation or anything drastic like that, just that I’ve never felt the call of the wild.  However, over my time here (partially due to the influence of my friends here) I’ve gradually come to participate in many “nature like” things and believe it or not have actually come to enjoy them.  Yesterday along Sam, Rachel, and a new girl Aya (our new Japanese friend studying in Arkansas) decided to climb one of the mountains that sits behind La Gasca (the street where we live).  Believe me this was not my idea.  But if I chickened out I would be spending my Saturday afternoon alone. Also not something I’m inclined to do.  So at ten o’clock on Saturday we started out on our trek up the mountain.

Boy was I winded. I was in the company of two fairly athletic people, and my only consolation was that Aya seemed to be struggling just as much as I was.  We hiked for about an hour before we reached a place to rest with an awesome view of Quito.  It was really only meant to be a resting spot for us but instead we ended up staying for over four hours snacking and chatting.  We also ran into a really friendly cow!

At around four o’clock we finally made our way back down the mountain, however, ending up way farther South than where we originally were.  This was easily fixed though as we took a five minute bus ride back to where we began! Later we all went home and took naps and showered and met up around eight to eat sushi in the Plaza Foch!

Quito, Ecuador – Friday March 2nd

Happy Friday everyone!!! I know I have been waiting for this week/month to be over for some time now! Nothing new has really been happening here down in Quito, other than a little excitement over babies born on Feb 29th! Haha. Good news though! My dad has officially booked his tickets to visit me in Quito for April 10th, and we will travel back together on May 1st!! I am very excited!!! Expect a lot of posts when he arrives, as I have been avoiding traveling around since I was spending WAY too much money just to travel for the weekend!

On another note, tonight I will be going to the Plaza Foch with my host family to eat sushi! I had gone to this place before with Anton and Ana Paula (German and Brazilian for those of you who forgot!) and it was the BEST sushi I have ever had!!

Again! Happy Friday!

After sushi I met up with Rachel and Sam to go out with a few friends for a while. Here are some pictures from the night!